February 7, 2014, 4:40 PM 

(Updated June 13, 2018 to include the following
addressees:)
To the President of the United States, to all 
Governors of US States and Territories, to 
all State Legislators, and to all Members of 
Congress

(The February 7, 2014 addressees:)
To the President of the United States, Barack Obama;
and to the Honorable Debbie Wasserman Schultz 
(DNC Chair) and to all other Members of Congress 
and last but not least to the American people:   

Injustice has been running rampant across the United States,  
in the court systems of most States, while   
obstruction under color is ubiquitous.  
The situation has reached the breaking-point
where American horror stories of wrongful convictions 
are beginning not just to fill the Internet, but the media too; 
at a rate which will soon crowd out everything else 
including political photo ops.  

This nightmare of one wrongful conviction after another 
has displaced the American dream.   
Victims of injustice CANNOT WAIT FOR JUSTICE;  
and should not be condescendingly put off by  
those who are well-off, comfortable, wealthy and  powerful -
as indeed the privilege of being more fortunate carries with it
the obligation of caring for the many more who are down on
their luck. 

And this Arrogance Of Power whereof we speak is not 
legitimate; because the fount of power in America is to be 
found in the Constitution and the rule of law, and nowhere else;
whereas we are petitioning on behalf of those whose
Constitutional rights have been severely and harmfully
trampled upon by the powerful, on behalf of the
well-connected and wealthy. 
 
Too many who are in positions of power in America today 
habitually disregard those very laws which they are sworn
to uphold, and the time has now come for the President to
break those bad habits. 

The President has absconded on the exercise of his 
powers to grant pardons and reprieves.  

This dereliction of duty traces to the administrative
defectiveness of the (now former) US Pardon Attorney, 
Ronald L. Rodgers, who was appointed  in early 2008
by Bush Jr. US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, 
who signed off on torture, according to reports about
Guantanamo.  Since that time, Deborah Leff - the
replacement for Ronald L. Rodgers, has resigned
in anger, citing US Justice Department corruption.

This new US Pardon Attorney to be appointed by the
President to replace Deborah Leff (if her replacement
turns out to have an equally dismal record) should be 
the eloquent and able Don Siegelman, former Governor
of Alabama, who has walked the walk and who knows
how to talk the talk on behalf of other good people who,
like himself, have been victimized horribly by injustices.  
.
Indeed, the President has been called upon by tens
of thousands of Americans in every US State and Territory,
and by tens of thousands of others in nearly every country
on the face of the earth, to grant a pardon to the egregiously
innocent former Alabama Governor.   The President's
avoidance in terms of doing what is right in this case
defies explanation, and calls for remedial action
first and foremost.
.
Obama Administration policies on clemency are 
dictated by the obsolete, bureaucratically obstructive 
and now out-of-place rule-book of the Bush Jr. administration,  
and by Bush-Rove operatives who still infest the US
Justice Department  like termites, eating away 
at the sinews of democracy.  

The world now knows that freedom is dead and dying  in the 
United States of America - especially with what we have read 
about Government activities which go  way beyond just spying, 
and the US Government has completely lost its credibility as a 
good-faith Government among all the other peoples and
governments worldwide.
.
It is unacceptable for this Administration, or for the media
to continue to attempt to brush fresh coatings of paint
over the untreated systemic corrosion which they
continually fail to honestly address.

We need to move beyond the level of dirty politics to
clean up the broken slate of injustices perpetrated by
Government at all levels - in a country once admired as the
Land of the Free, and once known to be ruled by the
Law of the Land called the Constitution of the United States. 

Mr. President, before you hand out one more dollar in
foreign aid . . . before you send negotiators to talk to 
the Taliban one more time . . . sit down and talk with 
the most eloquent NGO spokesmen and spokeswomen
among the Americans who are victims of towering  
and unacceptable injustices.  And talk to ME.
.
Direct US Government aid dollars toward healing those
innocent and worthy Americans and their families, loved  
ones and associates who have been horribly victimized by 
Government - inflicted disasters  which are 
Constitution-busting injustices - disasters  which these
innocent victims of these same State-sponsored,
man-made disasters  are not to be blamed for bringing
upon themselves, just as the tragic victims of storms or 
other natural disasters cannot reasonably be blamed for
hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.    

By granting the 52-facet cluster pardon and reprieve, and  
the accompanying LIST OF 37 ANCILLARY PARDONS  
published in 2013 as a further request to your good offices 
(on the Facebook site begun in 2012 with the imposing title 
"PRESIDENT OBAMA - RESTORE JUSTICE  
and grant the 52-part Pardon and Reprieve", 
which contains the Facebook group number 
126111847544449 after www dot facebook 
dot com slash groups),  you, Mr. President, can take 
Executive action unilaterally to restore justice, and this will 
enable your Administration to be credited with meaningful  
action to reverse the very recent tide of justifiable growing  
worldwide cynicism toward America (a cynicism which
discredits America in more ways than one, especially
among our trading partners and those who are increasingly
the financiers of our Federal budget deficit).

Putting this off, or continuing to relegate this important
responsibility to incompetent subordinates who seem to
be bent on tarnishing your record and legacy is not a
viable option, Mr. President.  There has already been
too much injurious delay.  Any professor of Constitutional
law ought to know that JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE
DENIED.  

Obviously, your own action would be sufficient to grant 
Constitutionally adherent clemency to every person listed
on the 52-part Pardon and Reprieve, and the Ancillary
Lists of dozens more victims of injustice.  

Not only that, but your grant of clemency in all these cases 
as requested, or in a form to be negotiated with our
Committee (and we can be very reasonable) is consistent
with your own Administration's position in 
Carol Anne Bond v. United States 
(2011, S. Ct. 09-1227).
 
If Congress can pass legislation consistent with the 
"necessary and proper" clause in conformity with
international treaties upholding human rights which the
United States has ratified in agreement with the same laws
which were written much earlier in our own US Constitution -
then this can lay to rest any dispute 
between State and Federal  jurisdiction in your own exercise
of your beneficial and non-punitive power to
"grant Reprieves and pardons". 

The "offences against the United States" (and I am directly 
quoting the Constitution here) need not be committed by
the person on whose  behalf a pardon and/or reprieve is
requested - check the Constitution, it does not require this!
and may be granted by any President.  Rather, the  wording
and consistent original intent of the Constitution (affirmed in
the Article Six "Law of the Land" clause and in the Article Four,
Section Four guarantee of "republican Form of Government")
offers you proper guidance to interpret the Constitution in a
broader and more merciful sense here - in granting pardons
and reprieves for VICTIMS of offenses against the Constitution
which are committed by people under color of authority. 

Indeed, the continued refusal or inability of a President to
grant "Reprieves and Pardons" to victims of Constitutional
violations amounts to a continual avoidance of a President
to live up to his own Oath of Office, in a context in which
neither Congress nor anyone else can be blamed.  
The responsibility resides only at the top for this
tarnishing and growing flaw which can be found
by all historians against the legacy of this Administration.

Since your Administration has the lowest clemency ratio
of all Presidencies (a 0.074 clemency ratio as of November
2013); a broadening of the scope of Presidentially
pardonable jurisdiction is clearly called for.  
And since none of the pardons requested have 
anything to do with matters of impeachment, no one -
no Court, no legislator, and no other authority - has the
power to second-guess your granting of any or all of
these pardons in the way we have requested; or with
reasonable modifications which are not further
insults to the cause and character of American justice.  

The powers of a President of the United States to
"grant Reprieves and pardons" is an absolute power
outside that scope of impeachment;
and every US Supreme Court action on the question
has affirmed this as a matter of a priori law.  
And it would be a shame to your own legacy to have
used that power only to laconically invoke Executive
privilege to be in dereliction of that duty, in the face of
one case after another of remediable human suffering,
which you can and should decide to end with the simple 
stroke of a pen - especially when international treaties
which the United States has signed REQUIRE the
United States to live up to standards of justice in which
the United States has miserably failed over the past
six years or more.  Every member of Congress is 
therefore urged to encourage you to make up for
lost time on this issue, and to stop deferring dreams,
and to end the process of denial of justice by delaying
all righteous hopes of timely action. 

Mr. President, in your first campaign for the highest
office in the land, you promised to close the prison camp
at Guantanamo.  
But there is  something more important and pressing than that:  
How about taking action NOW to 
STOP THE GUANTANAMIZATION OF AMERICA
which has been proceeding at an alarmingly accelerating
pace right under your nose, during your five years 
"plus change" (and "minus hope", by the way) 
as President? 

Mr. President, by granting the 52-part Pardon and  Reprieve
now, as described in the e-mail sent to the Hon. US
Representative (and Democratic Party Chair) Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz 
on DECEMBER 11, 2012; you may accomplish
wonderful things, 
in a way that you would otherwise be unable to do: 
You may enable the world to reap a peace dividend now, 
by assisting imperiled but FIRST RATE peacemakers to do 
what they do better than anyone else; which is to prevent war.  

THE WORLD CANNOT AFFORD CONTINUAL FURTHERANCE 
OF FALSE PROSEUCTIONS AGAINST MEN AND WOMEN WHO 
HAVE A GOD-GIVEN POTENTIAL TO 
SUCCEED AT MAKING PEACE 
WHERE SO MANY OTHERS HAVE FAILED - and there are 
DOZENS of these promising individuals listed on the 
52-part Pardon and Reprieve and the Ancillary List of 37.  

You may also bless the world by preserving vast quantities of 
beautiful music which is about to be swept away in Pennsylvania 
(in fact, much of it HAS been destroyed since we first presented 
these requests to you) swept away as the result of the 
malevolent actions of the fascist, Constitution-shredding, 
widowmaking  Corbett regime as a result of its shamefully 
destructive and knowingly wrongful prosecution against an 
innocent teacher - a prosecutorial hoax engineered by 
the Corbett machine which has harmed large numbers
of people in a way that clearly calls for the prudent and
timely exercise of your pardoning powers.
.
Mr. President, your granting of clemency in these  52 cases will 
improve the US and world economy immeasurably; as people 
who have been the victims of enforced idleness 
(whose "minimum wage" is set at ZERO, just so 
corrupt people in and connected with Government 
can make money by wrongfully  prosecuting these victims of injustice 
and by engineering the wrongful taking of everything they have)
can  GET BACK TO WORK, and in many cases will be able to 
start or restart businesses which will EMPLOY OTHERS 
and improve our balance of trade.  In fact, the lack of action
on your part in granting these overdue pardons has caused
a drag on the American economy along the paths of
every measurable economic index; in the same way as
driving down the highway with a flat tire would cause a
drag on the speed and direction of the car or truck, and
tend to send it right into the ditch.  That is the direction in
which the Office of the US Pardon Attorney has been pulling
your Administration, and that is not the direction in which you
want to go.

Mr. President, IT MAKES SENSE for you to bypass 
"ROADBLOCK RON" RODGERS, (who has TURNED DOWN
well over 99% of all pardon requests which his office even bothers
to recognize as being in proper form) and to 
ACT ON  YOUR OWN to take the first necessary and 
long-overdue step which will heal thousands of broken families 
and bruised friendships, which will powerfully restore freedom,  
which will heal the shredded fabric of trust in our society, and  
which will immediately FREE PEOPLE WHO NEVER SHOULD 
HAVE GONE TO JAIL, never should have been subjected to 
any incarcerative conditions whatever, or NEVER SHOULD 
HAVE BEEN HARMED BY GOVERNMENT OVERREACH 
IN THE FIRST PLACE! 
This petition was first submitted to the American people and to the  
conscience of the world on October 2, 2012, by: . 

Scott Davis  
Chairman 
Committee of 37 Peace Initiative 
PO Box 877 
Edgmont,  PA  19028-0877 
USA 

PS:  This petition is now addressed to
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, as of January 2017.
I didn't change the original wording of the petition one bit;
because I wanted the names at the top to demonstrate the
complete disregard of the previous Administration for
restoring justice, and for preserving, protecting and
defending the Constitution of the United States.
.
Now:  AN EDUCATIONAL WORD ABOUT PETITIONS:

When you sign a petition, try to do more - encourage others to sign.

Take the time to write an intelligent comment on the petition 
which may reflect your own experience or reasons for signing.  

"Like" the comments of others, as you see fit.  

If you bypass a cause for justice, or just "click Like" to a petition  
for justice without signing it, and without doing anything to support it,  
this actually does nothing for justice - and you have to think of  
what would happen if YOU or a precious loved one  
were the person wrongfully treated,  and everyone else  
were to walk away from you and abandon you on the 
doorstep of tyranny. 

People who are this uncaring are the ones who are helping 
tyranny gain the upper hand in America  and all over the world 
(due to America's leading role in the world - at least for the time being....
but as the Bible and other ancient sage advice teaches us, 
nations rise and fall on the quality of justice they dispense.) 

If you just sign a cause for justice, and then walk away from it; 
it's just like looking into a prison door, waving "Hi" to someone,  
and saying "Have A Nice Day" - and then going on your merry way 
- as Mark Russell so brilliantly parodied.  

If you read this and understand it, you will also understand 
the need for action, and you will do the right thing. 

Look: . If you SIGN AND SHARE a petition for justice like this, 
sharing it with a number of people- let's say TEN PEOPLE 
on your Friends list - you OPEN the prison gates and 
allow the person whose  life has been unjustly shattered.... 
to walk out of the place where  that person is being 
wrongfully held captive. 
You can help a good person rebuild their shattered life.  

If you can't help to win THIS ONE, then what will you ever do for justice? 

These aren't doubtful cases. Almost all of the people listed on the 
52-part Pardon and Reprieve lists never actionably harmed anyone. 
The record makes that clear.  All of these cases listed here are cases 
wherein the  courts and prosecutors have clearly acted unreasonably 
and in violation - yes, IN DEFIANCE of the US Constitution. 

Not all names are listed publicly, and there is a reason  for that.  
First, some of the people privately listed on lists sent to Congress 
or the President may require international negotiations on their behalf, 
before justice can be granted. 
Secondly, we do not want to make things worse for the small number 
of individuals who might be harmed if we publicly mentioned their names.
Indeed, we are mindful that any person whose names we have
recommended for clemency, but who don't know about our 
efforts (and who we have not even contacted in some cases)
we may not have the right to publicly mention without their
permission.  Ironically, prosecutors have been shielded in
LYING to bring about convictions of the innocent - but there
is no law protecting Good Samaritans who advocate on
behalf of those wrongfully convicted!  There is also no
way to guarantee that our well-intentioned efforts might
in fact prove harmful to all those we are trying to assist.
Therefore we err on the side of caution - and we remind
the public that most grantings of pardons are done with
minimal public discussion beforehand anyway; and in
the case of the President's powers, prior public debate
is not usually necessary.  The main debate with this
Administration is the fact of its unprecedented stinginess
in granting pardons.

We can affirm that no harm would result  if the President 
were to grant all of these pardons immediately, as requested - 
and that much good would result in every way.  In fact, any 
expenses called for would result in a long-run cost savings 
to taxpayers.  The huge costs which taxpayers have been paying
to prosecute and jail the innocent people on this list would be stopped
immediately if the President were to grant these pardons.
.
The days when Government in the United States tries to 
save money by avoiding the truth and continuing to lie to 
cover up its mistakes, should be OVER, NOW! 

It costs more in the long run to try to continually  
sweep things under the rug in a way that is 
knowingly wrong and knowingly harmful to innocent people. 

The only reasonable thing to do here is to help - and it  will cost you 
NOTHING to reach out to save shattered families and
heal bruised reputations and alleviate the misfortunes 
of good people; right here, right now. 

Conversely, it may ultimately cost you everything you have 
if you do nothing, as people tend to find out when they 
maintain moral neutrality in a time of moral crisis.  

For all people of faith who read the Bible: 

Proverbs 24: 10 - 12 has something very good to say about 
this moral imperative.    
Proverbs 24: 10-12 clearly means this:    

"If you despair in the context of injustices,  
does your courage measure up to the 
measure of courage that you think you have?"   

"If you hesitate for a moment to assist those who are  
ensnared in frameups, and those who are locked on the path 
of having their lives ruined by rigged injustices; and if you rely  
on the phony excuse, 'I had no idea this was happening';....  
does not HE who ponders what is in your heart  consider this in 
measuring your motives - and do you think you can really hide 
from the ONE who watches over your very soul?  Will HE not pay back 
every person in his or her own coin?"  

Petitions ARE IMPORTANT and petitions DO WORK. 

We've heard the cynics.  All I can say is: PROVE THEM WRONG!  

The FIRST AMENDMENT protects petitions for MANY GOOD REASONS. 

Thanks you for SIGNING AND SHARING this petition and thank you for 
supporting the cause of justice.